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Individual dietary specialization, where individuals occupy a subset of a population’s wider dietary niche, is of key importance for species’ resilience towards environmental change. However, the ontogeny of individual specialization, as well as the underlying social learning, genetic, and environmental drivers remain poorly understood. Using a multigenerational dataset of female European brown bears (Ursus arctos) followed since birth, we discerned the relative contributions of social learning, genetic predisposition, environment forcings, and maternal effects to individual dietary specialization. Individual specialization varied from omnivorous to carnivorous diets spanning half a trophic position. The main determinants of this dietary specialization were maternal learning during rearing (11%), environmental similarity (12%), and maternal effects (11%), whereas the contribution of genetic heritability was negligible. Importantly, the offspring’s trophic position closely resembled the trophic position of their mother during the first 3-4 years after separation from the mother, but this relationship ceased with increasing time since separation. Our study reveals that social learning and maternal effects are as important for individual dietary specialization as environmental forcings. We propose a tighter integration of social effects into future studies of range expansion and habitat selection under global change, that to date are mostly explained by environmental drivers.

During early development, juvenile animals need to acquire a diverse behavioural repertoire to interact with their environment. The ontogeny of animal behaviour, is paced by the motivation to improve, e.g. internal clocks, and limited by external constraints, e.g. weather conditions. We here evaluate how naive Egyptian vultures ( Neophron percnopterus ) improve in locomotor performance, measured as daily maximum displacement, prior to their first migration under three different time constraint regimes: we compared wild hatched vultures, migrating one month after fledging, with captive-hatched vultures, released in spring four months or in winter nine months before migration. We found that the time until migration paced the development of movement behaviour: wild birds rapidly increased displacement distances within the first two weeks after fledging, while spring and winter released vultures delayed movement increases by two and four months, respectively. Under relaxed time constraints captive-hatched vultures displayed diverse functional forms of performance enhancements and therefore great variability in individual ontogeny of movement behaviour. While weather conditions in winter could limit flight movements, some birds indeed moved immediately after their release, indicating that weather may not be limiting. Our findings promote the idea that relaxed ecological constraints could uncover hidden phenotypic flexibility in ontogeny, which could present a greater potential for adaptability under environmental change than currently expected.

Most animals concentrate their movement into certain hours of the day depending on drivers such as photoperiod, ambient temperature, inter‐ or intraspecific competition, and predation risk. The main activity periods of many mammal species, especially in human‐dominated landscapes, are commonly set at dusk, dawn, and during nighttime hours. Large carnivores, such as brown bears, often display great flexibility in diel movement patterns throughout their range, and even within populations, striking between individual differences in movement have been demonstrated. Here, we evaluated how seasonality and reproductive class affected diel movement patterns of brown bears of the Dinaric‐Pindos and Carpathian bear populations in Serbia. We analyzed the movement distances and general probability of movement of 13 brown bears (8 males and 5 females) equipped with GPS collars and monitored over 1–3 years. Our analyses revealed that movement distances and probability of bear movement differed between seasons (mating versus hyperphagia) and reproductive classes. Adult males, solitary females, and subadult males showed a crepuscular movement pattern. Compared with other reproductive classes, females with offspring were moving significantly less during crepuscular hours and during the night, particularly during the mating season, suggesting temporal niche partitioning among different reproductive classes. Adult males, solitary females, and in particular subadult males traveled greater hourly distances during the mating season in May‐June than the hyperphagia in July–October. Subadult males significantly decreased their movement from the mating season to hyperphagia, whereas females with offspring exhibited an opposite pattern with almost doubling their movement from the mating to hyperphagia season. Our results provide insights into how seasonality and reproductive class drive intrapopulation differences in movement distances and probability of movement in a recovering, to date little studied, brown bear population in southeastern Europe., Large carnivores, such as brown bears, often display great flexibility in diel movement patterns throughout their range, and even within populations, striking between individual differences in movement have been demonstrated. Here, we evaluated how seasonality and reproductive class affected diel movement patterns of brown bears of the Dinaric‐Pindos and Carpathian bear populations in Serbia. We analyzed the movement distances and general probability of movement of 13 brown bears (8 males and 5 females) equipped with GPS‐collars and monitored over 1–3 years. Our results provide insights how seasonality and reproductive class drive intra‐population differences in movement distances and probability of movement in a recovering, to‐date little studied, brown bear population in south‐eastern Europe.

How and where a female selects an area to settle and breed is of central importance in dispersal and population ecology as it governs range expansion and gene flow. Social structure and organization have been shown to influence settlement decisions, but its importance in the settlement of large, solitary mammals is largely unknown. We investigate how the identity of overlapping conspecifics on the landscape, acquired during the maternal care period, influences the selection of settlement home ranges in a non-territorial, solitary mammal using location data of 56 female brown bears (Ursus arctos). We used a resource selection function to determine whether females' settlement behavior was influenced by the presence of their mother, related females, familiar females, and female population density. Hunting may remove mothers and result in socio-spatial changes before settlement. We compared overlap between settling females and their mother's concurrent or most recent home ranges to examine the settling female's response to the absence or presence of her mother on the landscape. We found that females selected settlement home ranges that overlapped their mother's home range, familiar females, that is, those they had previously overlapped with, and areas with higher density than their natal ranges. However, they did not select areas overlapping related females. We also found that when mothers were removed from the landscape, female offspring selected settlement home ranges with greater overlap of their mother's range, compared with mothers who were alive. Our results suggest that females are acquiring and using information about their social environment when making settlement decisions.Information about the social environment may help female brown bears to select a settlement home range for breeding. We found that a female uses the identity of other females that overlapped her natal home range and female density when making settlement decisions. Specifically, females select settlement home ranges that overlap with home ranges of their mothers and familiar females known from their natal period. Relatedness does not appear to influence settlement decisions in this population.

One of the most general expectations of species range dynamics is that widespread species tend to have broader niches. However, it remains unclear how this relationship is expressed at different levels of biological organisation, which involve potentially distinctive processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales. Here, we show that range sizes of terrestrial non-volant mammals at the individual and species level show contrasting relationships with two ecological niche dimensions: diet and habitat breadth. While average individual home range size appears to be mainly shaped by the interplay of diet niche breadth and body mass, species geographical range size is primarily related to habitat niche breadth but not to diet niche breadth. Our findings suggest that individual home range size is shaped by the trade-off between energetic requirements, movement capacity and trophic specialisation, whereas species geographical range size is related to the ability to persist under various environmental conditions.

© 2022 Lemière, Thiel, Fuchs, Gilot-Fromont, Hertel, Friebe, Kindberg, Støen, Arnemo and Evans. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Climate change is altering the reproductive phenology of many organisms, but the factors that influence the timing of gestation in ursids are still poorly understood. Higher temperatures in spring are already causing an earlier den exit in some brown bear populations, and a temporal mismatch between hibernation and reproduction could have dramatic consequences for reproductive success. Therefore, understanding the factors that control the timing of these events is important to forecast the consequences of climate change on population growth rates. In this study, we used abdominal temperature loggers and GPS collars with acceleration sensors on 23 free-ranging pregnant female brown bears living in two areas in Sweden (61◦N and 67◦N latitude) to pinpoint hibernation and reproductive events. We investigated how intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the termination of embryonic diapause and parturition, as well as their impact on reproductive success. The termination of embryonic diapause was later in the northern area compared to the southern area and occurred earlier when ambient temperature at den entry was higher in both areas. In the southern area, young adults (i.e., females = 7 years old) had a delayed parturition when bilberry abundance was low the year of mating. Additionally, young adults had a lower reproductive success than adults and their probability to reproduce successfully was dependent on bilberry abundance, whereas adult females were not affected by this parameter. As den exit occurs later in the northern study area, we suggest that a later parturition might ensure that females lactate their cubs in the den for a reasonable amount of time while fasting. Similarly, a later parturition combined with an earlier emergence could allow young adults to spend less time in the den lactating if they could not reach an optimal body condition prior to hibernation. But as a result, their cubs are younger and more vulnerable when they leave the den leading to lower survival rates. Our results suggest that a decreased berry abundance in the fall could impact the reproductive and hibernation phenology of Scandinavian brown bear females and lead to a lower cub survival with potential consequences on the population dynamics.

Variation in female mate preferences for male traits remains poorly understood (both among and within females), despite having important evolutionary and conservation implications, particularly for captive breeding. Here, we investigate female mate preferences for male advertisement call frequency, and determine whether preferences vary over repeated trials, in the critically endangered southern corroboree frog, Pseudophryne corroboree. We conducted a series of phonotaxis trials in a six-speaker arena where naïve, captive-bred, virgin females were offered a choice between low, average and high frequency male advertisement calls, with a subset of females tested repeatedly. In the first trial, we found no evidence for a population-level preference for call frequency, but females spent less time in the low call zone than expected by chance. However, our results showed that female mate preferences changed over sequential trials. Females spent significantly more time in the low frequency call zone in the third trial compared to the first trial, and, in the last trial, females exhibited a significant population-level preference for low frequency calls. Subsequently, repeatability estimates of female preferences were low and did not significantly deviate from zero. Our results indicate that female P. corroboree mate preferences can exhibit temporal variation, and suggest that females are more attracted to low call frequencies after repeated exposure. These findings imply that female P. corroboree may become choosier over time, and highlight the potential for mate preferences to exhibit phenotypic plasticity within a single reproductive cycle. Overall, these findings provide the first information on mate preferences in P. corroboree, and emphasize the importance of considering individual variation in mate choice studies. From a conservation perspective, knowledge of individual variation in female mate preferences may be used to conduct behavioral manipulations in captivity that facilitate the breeding of genetically valuable individuals, and improve the success of conservation breeding programs.

Recent research highlights the ecological importance of individual variation in behavioural predictability. Individuals may not only differ in their average expression of a behavioural trait (their behavioural type) and in their ability to adjust behaviour to changing environmental conditions (individual plasticity), but also in their variability around their average behaviour (predictability). However, quantifying behavioural predictability in the wild has been challenging due to limitations of acquiring sufficient repeated behavioural measures. We here demonstrate how common biologging data can be used to detect individual variation in behavioural predictability in the wild and reveal the coexistence of highly predictable individuals along with unpredictable individuals within the same population. We repeatedly quantified two behaviours-daily movement distance and diurnal activity-in 62 female brown bears Ursus arctos tracked across 187 monitoring years. We calculated behavioural predictability over the short term (50 consecutive monitoring days within 1 year) and long term (across monitoring years) as the residual intra-individual variability (rIIV) of behaviour around the behavioural reaction norm. We tested whether predictability varies systematically across average behavioural types and whether it is correlated across functionally distinct behaviours, that is, daily movement distance and amount of diurnal activity. Brown bears showed individual variation in behavioural predictability from predictable to unpredictable individuals. For example, the standard deviation around the average daily movement distance within one monitoring year varied up to fivefold from 1.1 to 5.5 km across individuals. Individual predictability for both daily movement distance and diurnality was conserved across monitoring years. Individual predictability was correlated with behavioural type where individuals which were on average more diurnal and mobile were also more unpredictable in their behaviour. In contrast, more nocturnal individuals moved less and were more predictable in their behaviour. Finally, individual predictability in daily movement distance and diurnality was positively correlated, suggesting that individual predictability may be a quantitative trait in its own regard that could evolve and is underpinned by genetic variation. Unpredictable individuals may cope better with stochastic events and unpredictability may hence be an adaptive behavioural response to increased predation risk. Coexistence of predictable and unpredictable individuals may therefore ensure adaptable and resilient populations.

Gamete size variationbetweenthe sexes is central to the concept of sex roles, however, to what extent gamete size variationwithinsexes relates to sex role variation remains unclear. Comparative and theoretical studies suggest that, when clutch size is invariable, female polygamy leads to a reduction of egg size, whereas increased female-female competition for mates favors early breeding. To understand whether and how breeding phenology, egg size, and mating behavior are related at the individual level, we studied the reproductive histories of 426 snowy plover females collected over 15 years. Egg size but not mating strategy were highly repeatable for individual females. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we found that polyandrous females were the earliest breeders and that early clutches contained smaller eggs than clutches initiated later, however, the latter effect was only moderate. Neither egg size nor mating behavior showed clear signs of an age-related deterioration, on the contrary, prior experience acquired either through age or local recruitment enabled females to nest early. Taken together, these results suggest that gamete size variation is not linked to female mating behavior at the individual level.Teaser TextComparative avian analyses have linked female polyandry and sex-role reversal to the production of smaller eggs: the notion being that smaller eggs allow polyandrous females to lay multiple sequential clutches quickly. Our research, however, has found that this process is more complex at the individual level. We found that females who started breeding early in the season were more likely to be polyandrous and produce smaller eggs. Experience was also found to give older and local females a competitive advantage over younger and inexperienced females vying for early breeding opportunities. Despite this, we found limited evidence that egg size reduction gives a competitive advantage in the scramble for mates. Instead, seasonal variations in egg size can be attributed to other factors, such as the survival of early-hatching chicks, resource limitations during egg production, and individual differences. We found that senescence had little impact on egg size or mating behavior. Future research should examine how seasonality, age, and mating behavior impact the reproductive fitness of males, who provide more parental care than females in many sex role reversed systems. By studying these effects in concert, we can gain a deeper understanding of sex roles in natural populations.

Harvest by means of hunting is a commonly used tool in large carnivore management. To evaluate the effects of harvest on populations, managers usually focus on numerical or immediate direct demographic effects of harvest mortality on a population's size and growth. However, we suggest that managers should also give consideration to indirect and potential evolutionary effects of hunting (e.g., the consequences of a change in the age, sex, and social structure), and their effects on population growth rate. We define “indirect effects” as hunting-induced changes in a population, including human-induced selection, that result in an additive change to the population growth rate “lambda” beyond that due to the initial offtake from direct mortality. We considered 4 major sources of possible indirect effects from hunting of bears: (1) changes to a population's age and sex structure, (2) changes to a population's social structure, (3) changes in individual behavior, and (4) human-induced selection. We i...

Animal behaviors are often described on the population level. Bears in Scandinavia, for example, are generally assumed to be active in the morning and afternoon. Using GPS-radio collar data from 98 brown bears, we show that bears, in fact, differ in their activity tactic. We illustrate 4 distinct tactics from strictly day active to strictly night active and bears that were measured over multiple years often used the same activity tactic., There is a growing recognition of the role of individual variation in patterns emerging at higher levels of biological organization. Despite the importance of the temporal configuration of ecological processes and patterns, intraspecific individual variation in diel activity patterns is almost never accounted for in behavioral studies at the population level. We used individual-based monitoring data from 98 GPS-collared brown bears in Scandinavia to estimate diel activity patterns before the fall hunting season. We extracted 7 activity measures related to timing and regularity of activity from individual activity profiles. We then used multivariate analysis to test for the existence of distinct activity tactics and their environmental determinants, followed by generalized linear regression to estimate the extent of within-individual repeatability of activity tactics. We detected 4 distinct activity tactics, with a high degree of individual fidelity to a given tactic. Demographic factors, availability of key foraging habitat, and human disturbance were important determinants of activity tactics. Younger individuals and those with higher bear and road densities within their home range were more nocturnal and more likely to rest during the day. Good foraging habitat and increasing age led to more diurnal activity patterns and nocturnal resting periods. We did not find evidence of diel activity tactics influencing survival during the subsequent hunting season. We conclude that individual variation in activity deserves greater attention than it currently receives, as it may help account for individual heterogeneity in fitness and could facilitate within-population niche partitioning that can have population- or community-level consequences.

Animal tracking and biologging devices record large amounts of data on individual movement behaviors in natural environments. In these data, movement ecologists often view unexplained variation around the mean as “noise” when studying patterns at the population level. In the field of behavioral ecology, however, focus has shifted from population means to the biological underpinnings of variation around means. Specifically, behavioral ecologists use repeated measures of individual behavior to partition behavioral variability into intrinsic among-individual variation and reversible behavioral plasticity and to quantify: a) individual variation in behavioral types (i.e. different average behavioral expression), b) individual variation in behavioral plasticity (i.e. different responsiveness of individuals to environmental gradients), c) individual variation in behavioral predictability (i.e. different residual within-individual variability of behavior around the mean), and d) correlations among these components and correlations in suites of behaviors, called ‘behavioral syndromes’. We here suggest that partitioning behavioral variability in animal movements will further the integration of movement ecology with other fields of behavioral ecology. We provide a literature review illustrating that individual differences in movement behaviors are insightful for wildlife and conservation studies and give recommendations regarding the data required for addressing such questions. In the accompanying R tutorial we provide a guide to the statistical approaches quantifying the different aspects of among-individual variation. We use movement data from 35 African elephants and show that elephants differ in a) their average behavior for three common movement behaviors, b) the rate at which they adjusted movement over a temporal gradient, and c) their behavioral predictability (ranging from more to less predictable individuals). Finally, two of the three movement behaviors were correlated into a behavioral syndrome (d), with farther moving individuals having shorter mean residence times. Though not explicitly tested here, individual differences in movement and predictability can affect an individual’s risk to be hunted or poached and could therefore open new avenues for conservation biologists to assess population viability. We hope that this review, tutorial, and worked example will encourage movement ecologists to examine the biology of individual variation in animal movements hidden behind the population mean.

Appropriate analgesic therapy requires adequate pain measurement. A few studies have already demonstrated benefits of clinical pharmacists supporting physicians' prescribing. Nevertheless, there are still open questions about pharmaceutical interventions at the nursing level in order to optimise pain therapy sustainably. We performed a prospective controlled follow-up intervention study to analyse the sustainability of improved pain measurement performance (PMP) and its therapeutic consequences. Half a year after a successful guidance implementation in two study units (control and intervention unit), pharmacists performed an individual coaching for nurses only in the intervention unit. We consecutively monitored patient-nurse contacts and evaluated PMP with a 7-point scale (from 0: no pain measurement to 6: optimal pain measurement) in three 4-week periods (t

Eine hohere Lebenserwartung und gesteigerte Aktivitat der Bevolkerung fuhren zu einer Zunahme von degenerativ gepragten Krankheitsbildern wie der Achillessehnenruptur. Die Anamnese und die korperliche Untersuchung sind Mittel der Wahl zur Diagnosestellung der Achillessehnenruptur. Sonographie und Rontgendiagnostik stellen erweiterte, sinnvolle Diagnostika dar. Fur die Indikationsstellung der Therapie mussen multifaktoriell die Vor- und Nachteile der konservativen gegen die operative Therapie individuell abgewogen werden. Fur beide Verfahren gibt es klare Kontraindikationen. In den operativen Verfahren stehen die offene Nahttechnik, minimalinvasive Verfahren als auch rekonstruktive Verfahren zur Verfugung. Genauso wichtig wie die Wahl des richtigen Operationsverfahrens ist eine adaquate Nachbehandlung des Patienten. Unter richtiger Indikationsstellung und Betreuung konnen sowohl mit der konservativen als auch der operativen Therapie auserst zufriedenstellende Ergebnisse fur den Patienten erreicht werden.

The understory vegetation of the Eurasian boreal forest is dominated by several ericaceous species (e.g. bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus). These species invest large amounts of energy in their sexual reproduction by producing seed-containing berries, which are apparent adaptations for endozoochory. Their seedlings are, however, almost never found in the wild, and they reproduce virtually exclusively through clones. Brown bears Ursus arctos consume enormous amounts of ericaceous berries (predominantly bilberry in central Scandinavia) during hyperphagia, and may facilitate sexual reproduction in such species. If ericaceous species would benefit from endozoochory by brown bears, one would predict that endozoochory would have no negative impacts on germination. We experimentally evaluated this prediction using germination trials under controlled conditions of bilberry seeds that were 1) extracted from brown bear feces, 2) extracted from ripe berries and 3) contained in berries. Using time-to-event analyses, we showed that passing the gut by itself did not stimulate or limit germination. However, seeds that were released from the berries germinated about one month earlier compared to seeds contained in berries. This implies that being released from a fruit, for example through endozoochory, can have a large temporal germination and growth advantage, especially in northern ecosystems a with short growing season.

Animals adapt their foraging behavior to variations in food availability and predation risk. In Sweden, brown bears (Ursus arctos) depend on a nearly continuous intake of berries, especially bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) during late summer and early autumn to fatten up prior to hibernation. This overlaps with the bear hunting season that starts on 21 August. Bilberry occurrence varies across space, as does human-induced mortality risk. Here, we hypothesize that brown bears select for areas with a high probability of bilberry occurrence across a boreal forest ecosystem in Sweden (H1), and that human-induced mortality risk reduces bear selection for bilberries (H2). In addition, we hypothesized that bears that survived the hunting season avoided bilberry areas associated with high risk, whereas bears that were later killed selected more strongly for berries and less against risk prior to the hunting season (H3). To evaluate our hypotheses, we used resource selection functions to contrast bear GPS relocation data (N = 35, 2012–2015) and random positions within the bearś home range with generalized linear mixed effect models against two focal variables: a map predicting bilberry occurrence and a map predicting human-induced mortality risk. We found that bears selected for areas with a high probability of bilberry occurrence (supporting H1), but avoided these areas if they were associated with and high risk of hunting mortality (supporting H2). The killed and surviving bears did not differ in their selection for bilberries, but they did differ in their selection against risk (partially supporting H3). Surviving bears strongly avoided high risk areas, whereas killed bears responded less to risk and selected for high-risk areas with a low probability of bilberry occurrence. This suggests that killed bears selected for other food sources than berries in high risk areas, which exposed them to human hunters. We conclude that bears respond to a landscape of fear during the berry season and that different foraging strategies may have a direct impact on individual mortality during the hunting season.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Wild animal populations experience selection pressures from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The availability of extensive pedigrees is increasing along with our ability to quantify the heritability and evolvability of phenotypic traits and thus the speed and potential for evolutionary change in wild populations. The environment may also affect gene expressions in individuals, which may in turn affect the potential of phenotypic traits to respond to selection. Knowledge about the relationship between the genetic and environmental components of phenotypic variation is particularly relevant, given ongoing anthropogenically driven global change. Using a quantitative genetic mixed model, we disentangled the genetic and environmental components of phenotypic variance in a large carnivore, the brown bear (Ursus arctos). We combined a pedigree covering ~1,500 individual bears over seven generations with location data from 413 bears, as well as data on bear density, habitat characteristics, and climatic conditions. We found a narrow‐sense heritability of 0.24 (95% CrI: 0.06–0.38) for brown bear head size, showing that the trait can respond to selection at a moderate speed. The environment contributed substantially to phenotypic variation, and we partitioned this into birth year (5.9%), nonadditive among‐individual genetic (15.0%), and residual (50.4%) environmental effects. Brown bear head circumference showed an evolvability of 0.2%, which can generate large changes in the trait mean over some hundreds of generations. Our study is among the first to quantify heritability of a trait in a hunted large carnivore population. Such knowledge about the degree to which species experiencing hunting can respond to selection is crucial for conservation and to make informed management decisions. We show that including important environmental variables when analyzing heritability is key to understanding the dynamics of the evolutionary potential of phenotypic traits. Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters; Swedish Environmental Protection Agency; Norwegian Environment Agency; Austrian Science Fund; Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management

Animal personality traits and the emergence of behavioural syndromes, i.e. between-individual correlation of behaviours, are commonly quantified from behavioural observations in controlled environments. Subjecting large and elusive wildlife to controlled test situations is, however, rarely possible, suggesting that ecologists should exploit alternative measures of behaviours for quantifying differences between individuals. Our goal was to test whether movement and space use data can be used to quantify behavioural syndromes in the wild. We quantified six behaviours from GPS and dual motion sensor tracking devices of 46 adult female brown bears followed in southcentral Sweden over the summer and early autumn. As well as daily travel distance, an indicator for activity, and daily displacement, an indicator for exploration, we quantified four behaviours that increase a bear's likelihood of encountering humans and could thus serve as indicators for boldness: diurnality, selection for roads and selection for two open habitat types, bogs and clearcuts, with low lateral cover. We tested (1) whether behaviours showed repeatable between-individual variation (animal personality) and (2) whether behaviours were correlated between individuals and thus formed a behavioural syndrome. Repeatability of behaviours ranged from 0.16 to 0.61 confirming between-individual variation in movement, activity and space use. A multivariate mixed model revealed significant positive correlations between travel distance, displacement and diurnality, suggesting the existence of an activity–exploration and potentially partial boldness syndrome in our bear population. Selection for exposed or human-frequented habitats were uncorrelated with the activity–exploration syndrome and with each other, albeit there was a trend for stronger road avoidance by bears that readily used clearcuts. We show that large tracking data sets can be used to quantify between-individual correlation in spatial behaviours. We suggest that delineating behavioural types from wildlife tracking data will be of increasing interest because of the importance of animal personality for ecological processes, wildlife conservation and human–wildlife coexistence.

Lateralizing, derotating intertrochanteric varus osteotomy to increase the ischiofemoral space to counter painful impingement of the lesser trochanter and the os ischium with resulting entrapment of quadratus femoris muscle.Symptomatic ischiofemoral impingement (IFI) caused by Coxa valga et antetorta, Coxa valga or Coxa antetorta, or a short femoral neck.Anatomic configuration suggestive of IFI in asymptomatic patients. Symptomatic IFI caused by another underlying pathology. Valgus deformity of the knee.Measurement of femoral antetorsion. Planning of the osteotomy, lateralization, varus angle for correction, rotation and offset correction, leg length change, and osteosynthesis plate. General or spinal anesthesia in supine or lateral position. Skin incision (15 cm) beginning lateral of the greater trochanter tip, distally along the axis of the femur. Preparation onto the femur by L‑shaped dissection of the vastus lateralis from the bone. A Kirschner(K-)wire is then positioned along the anterior femoral neck to designate the femoral neck antetorsion. A triangle set on the lateral femoral cortexis is used to determine the osteotomy angle. In the thus determined angle, a second K‑wire is shot centrally along the femoral neck axis just inferior to its cranial cortex. About 5 mm distal to the second wire, the entry for the blade is prepared using a drill. Using the blade setting instrument, the blade is introduced into the femoral neck, then slightly pulled back. The rotation is then marked on the anterior femoral cortex proximal and distal to the planned osteotomy and the osteotomy is performed. A blade plate without displacement is impacted. The osteotomy is then reduced, the distal fragment pulled laterally onto the plate, and the screws inserted after compression of the osteotomy with a tension device.Touch-toe bearing for 6 weeks, then radiological assessment of osteotomy healing before an increase in weight bearing (15 kg/week). Hip flexion limited to 90° for 6 weeks. Elective implant removal after 12-18 months.Studies of this lateralizing varus osteotomy have not been published. The 25-year results of the conventional derotating intertrochanteric varus osteotomy technique show good functional results and low complication rates, with non-union being the most common. Arthroscopic resection of the lesser trochanter has been reported as a surgical alternative in the treatment of IFI in case reports and small series. Advantages of the osteotomy are the restoration of biomechanics and preservation of iliopsoas tendon insertion.

Behavioural experiments were conducted to gather information on how competitive behaviour between the invasive gobies Ponticola kessleri and Neogobius melanostomus may affect the development of populations in the River Rhine. Short-term experiments that were designed to measure activity could not discern any consistencies, neither between species nor based on gender. Although both species needed time to adapt to laboratory shelters, N. melanostomus hid conspicuously more often than P. kessleri. Few directly competitive interactions between species were observed. However, when such interactions were observed, N. melanostomus was stronger and won most inter-specific conflicts, even when it was the smaller opponent. It was also revealed in long-term feeding experiments that N. melanostomus preferred gammarids over fish during direct competition, while the opposite was true for P. kessleri. Behavioural results of the present study show these two species to exhibit different strategies, giving some evidence th...

Referring to Europe as a whole and to single European countries, previous studies have shown that heavy metal concentrations in mosses (1) are primarily determined by atmospheric deposition of heavy metals; (2) are country and element–specific; and (3) agree well with respect to element–specific spatial patterns and temporal trends of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. This paper investigates correlations between the concentrations of cadmium, lead and mercury in atmospheric deposition and mosses within the units of an ecological land classification of Europe. To this end, measurements from the 2005/2006 European moss survey and modeled atmospheric deposition in the previous three years were intersected with a map on ecologically defined land classes of Europe. Then, the minimum numbers of sampling sites required within the ecological land classes were computed. Considering spatial auto–correlations, subsequently the correlations between the concentrations of heavy metals in mosses and corresponding deposition were calculated and mapped for each of those ecological land classes containing moss sampling sites. It was concluded that the numbers of sampling sites within Europe and most participating countries as well as within most of the ecological land classes are sufficient for estimating the mean of measurements for the above mentioned three spatial levels within 20% of its true value with 95% confidence. Spatial patterns of correlations between the atmospheric deposition and bioaccumulation were shown to vary by element and ecologically defined land classes.

A superior life expectancy and an increased activity in the population result in an increase in degenerative diseases, such as Achilles tendon ruptures. The medical history and physical examinations are the methods of choice to diagnose Achilles tendon ruptures. Ultrasound and radiography represent reasonable extended diagnostic procedures. In order to decide on the medical indications for the therapy concept, the advantages and disadvantages of conservative and surgical treatment options have to be weighed up on an indivdual basis. There are explicit contraindications for both treatment options. For the surgical treatment concept open suture techniques, minimally invasive methods and reconstructive procedures are available. The postoperative management of the patient is as important as the choice of surgical technique. With the correct medical indications and supervision of the patient it is possible to achieve extremely satisfying results for the patient with both conservative and surgical treatment options.

Although well-established guidelines give advice on how to use analgesics, measure pain, and organize pain treatment, many patients still suffer from avoidable severe pain. We assume one reason for this is that pain is inadequately addressed in routine patient contacts. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the extent to which pain was addressed during patient contacts in routine orthopedic care.In a prospective observational study in an orthopedic unit of a university hospital, we invited physicians and nurses during their routine patient contacts to be observed by independent, trained monitors. The monitors systematically assessed all pain-related aspects, which were analyzed descriptively afterwards.The monitors documented 572 physician-patient contacts with 7 physicians and 108 patients and 578 nurse-patient contacts with 12 nurses and 102 patients. Physicians and nurses asked their patients about pain in 20 and 16 % of the patient contacts, respectively. While in physician-patient contacts, patients most frequently addressed their current pain situation (in 35 % of contacts), in nurse-patient contacts, patients most frequently addressed their need for analgesics (52 %). Patients rated their pain intensity in 16 % of physician-patient contacts vs. 17 % of nurse-patient contacts.Using a comprehensive external monitoring procedure, we found that systematic pain assessment was not optimally standardized and implemented for systematic, individualized pain therapy by physicians or nurses in our routine care setting.

When animals are faced with extraordinary energy-consuming events, like hibernation, finding abundant, energy-rich food resources becomes particularly important. The profitability of food resources can vary spatially, depending on occurrence, quality, and local abundance. Here, we used the brown bear (Ursus arctos) as a model species to quantify selective foraging on berries in different habitats during hyperphagia in autumn prior to hibernation. During the peak berry season in August and September, we sampled berry occurrence, abundance, and sugar content, a proxy for quality, at locations selected by bears for foraging and at random locations in the landscape. The factors determining selection of berries were species specific across the different habitats. Compared to random locations, bears selected locations with a higher probability of occurrence and higher abundance of bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) and a higher probability of occurrence, but not abundance, of lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). Crowberries (Empetrum hermaphroditum) were least available and least used. Sugar content affected the selection of lingonberries, but not of bilberries. Abundance of bilberries at random locations decreased and abundance of lingonberries increased during fall, but bears did not adjust their foraging strategy by increasing selection for lingonberries. Forestry practices had a large effect on berry occurrence and abundance, and brown bears responded by foraging most selectively in mature forests and on clearcuts. This study shows that bears are successful in navigating human-shaped forest landscapes by using areas of higher than average berry abundance in a period when abundant food intake is particularly important to increase body mass prior to hibernation. Significance statement Food resources heterogeneity, caused by spatial and temporal variation of specific foods, poses a challenge to foragers, particularly when faced with extraordinary energy-demanding events, like hibernation. Brown bears in Sweden inhabit a landscape shaped by forestry practices. Bilberries and lingonberries, the bears’ main food resources in autumn prior to hibernation, show different temporal and habitat-specific ripening patterns. We quantified the bears’ selective foraging on these berry species on clearcuts, bogs, young, and mature forests compared to random locations. Despite a temporal decline of ripe bilberries, bears used locations with a greater occurrence and abundance of bilberries, but not lingonberries. We conclude that bears successfully navigated in this heavily human-shaped landscape by selectively foraging in high-return habitats for bilberries, but did not compensate for the decline in bilberries by eating more lingonberries. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00265-016-2106-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Avoiding predators most often entails a food cost. For the Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos), the hunting season coincides with the period of hyperphagia. Hunting mortality risk is not uniformly distributed throughout the day, but peaks in the early morning hours. As bears must increase mass for winter survival, they should be sensitive to temporal allocation of antipredator responses to periods of highest risk. We expected bears to reduce foraging activity at the expense of food intake in the morning hours when risk was high, but not in the afternoon, when risk was low. We used fine-scale GPS-derived activity patterns during the 2 weeks before and after the onset of the annual bear hunting season. At locations of probable foraging, we assessed abundance and sugar content, of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), the most important autumn food resource for bears in this area. Bears decreased their foraging activity in the morning hours of the hunting season. Likewise, they foraged less efficiently and on poorer quality berries in the morning. Neither of our foraging measures were affected by hunting in the afternoon foraging bout, indicating that bears did not allocate antipredator behavior to times of comparably lower risk. Bears effectively responded to variation in risk on the scale of hours. This entailed a measurable foraging cost. The additive effect of reduced foraging activity, reduced forage intake, and lower quality food may result in poorer body condition upon den entry and may ultimately reduce reproductive success. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00442-016-3729-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study investigated whether statistical correlation of modeled atmospheric heavy metal deposition and respective accumulation in moss and natural surface soil varies across natural landscapes in Norway. Target metals were cadmium, lead, and mercury, and analyses were run between 1990 and 2010 on a 5-year interval. The landscape information was derived from the Ecological Land Classification of Europe. Correlations between concentration and respective deposition data were computed for each land class. The strongest correlations between heavy metal concentrations in atmospheric deposition and corresponding levels in moss and natural surface soil were observed for lead. Correlations for mercury were weaker compared to those calculated for cadmium and lead, indicating that atmospheric transport of mercury occurs at a larger spatial scale, while accumulation additionally seems to be influenced by factors operating on smaller scales. The correlation between concentrations in atmospheric deposition and moss is landscape-specific and metal-specific. The same holds true for the relations between heavy metal concentration in modeled atmospheric deposition and natural surface soil. The results of this investigation are in line with similar calculations from across Europe. They further confirm previous studies indicating that for Norway atmospheric transport is a main source of lead and cadmium accumulation in moss as well as in natural surface soil.

Objective. This study explores the statistical relations between the accumulation of heavy metals in moss and natural surface soil and potential influencing factors such as atmospheric deposition by use of multivariate regression-kriging and generalized linear models. Based on data collected in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010 throughout Norway the statistical correlation of a set of potential predictors (elevation, precipitation, density of different land uses, population density, physical properties of soil) with concentrations of cadmium (Cd), mercury and lead in moss and natural surface soil (response variables), respectively, were evaluated. Spatio-temporal trends were estimated by applying generalized linear models and geostatistics on spatial data covering Norway. The resulting maps were used to investigate to what extent the HM concentrations in moss and natural surface soil are correlated. Results. From a set of ten potential predictor variables the modelled atmospheric deposition showed the highest correlation with heavy metals concentrations in moss and natural surface soil. Density of various land uses in a 5 km radius reveal significant correlations with lead and cadmium concentration in moss and mercury concentration in natural surface soil. Elevation also appeared as a relevant factor for accumulation of lead and mercury in moss and cadmium in natural surface soil respectively. Precipitation was found to be a significant factor for cadmium in moss and mercury in natural surface soil. The integrated use of multivariate generalized linear models and kriging interpolation enabled creating heavy metals maps at a high level of spatial resolution. The spatial patterns of cadmium and lead concentrations in moss and natural surface soil in 1995 and 2005 are similar. The heavy metals concentrations in moss and natural surface soil are correlated significantly with high coefficients for lead, medium for cadmium and moderate for mercury. From 1995 up to 2010 the modelled moss and natural surface soil estimates indicate a decrease of lead concentration in both moss and natural surface soil. In the case of the moss data the decrease of accumulation is more pronounced. By contrast, the modelled cadmium and mercury concentrations do not exhibit any significant temporal trend. Conclusions. In Europe, there is hardly any nation-wide investigation of statistical correlations between the accumulation of heavy metals in moss and natural surface soil and potential influencing factors such as atmospheric deposition. This study could show that assessments of heavy metal concentrations in natural surface soil could complement biomonitoring with moss but should not replace it since the heavy metal concentrations in mosses reliably traces the spatial pattern of respective atmospheric deposition. Generalized linear models extend established methods for estimating spatial patterns and temporal trends of HM concentration in moss and natural surface soil. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

A stacked gate technique is applied to study electronic excitations in electron quantum wire, quantum dot and antidot arrays in GaAs/AlAs MISFET-type heterojunctions at far-infrared frequencies. The gate configuration consists of a finely (period a ⩾ 250 nm) patterned bottom electrode on the surface of the heterostructure, a dielectric spacer and a homogeneous top gate. An electron grating is induced at the heterostructure interface either beneath the strips or beneath the gaps of the grating gate. With the fields induced by the top gate the confining potential can be controlled nearly independently of the electron density in quantum wires below the bottom gate. This is demonstrated by far-infrared studies of the dimensional resonances in the wires. In a perpendicular magnetic field we observe a very pronounced splitting of the dimensional resonance. We study this behaviour as a function of wire separation and potential form and find this splitting to reflect the anharmonicity of the confining potential.

The lyotropic mesophases in binary systems of surfactants in water: n-alkylbenzenesulphonates (C8–C12), two chain C12-surfactants, and dodecyl-benzenesulphonic acid, were investigated. The micellar properties were examined by conductometry and viscosimetry. The phase diagrams were determined using crossed polarizers, 2H NMR spectroscopy and polarization microscopy. Besides lamellar and inverse cubic phases, new nematic lyotropic phases have been found, presenting precursors for the lamellar phases, and exhibiting very fast alignment in a magnetic field.

The results of time dependent small angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments on the alignment of four samples are described. The relaxation times encountered vary in magnitude from 150 ms to 60 min. For the shorter relaxation times a sampling method was used. The four different processes of which results are reported are: - the transient alignment of p-TES fibrilles in an electric field - the rotation of a prealigned nematic phase in a magnetic field - the build up and decay of a shear induced micellar structure in a shear field - the overshoot during the alignment of rodlike micelles in a shear field.

Polarization microscopy, 2H-NMR measurements, surface alignment and alignment in magnetic fields were utilized to look for nematic systems within a selection of N-alkyl-N,N-dimethyl-N-hexadecyl ammonium bromide surfactants. Three binary lyotropic nematic systems are reported which consist of rodlike micelles with positive anisotropy of the diamagnetic susceptibility Δξ and negative briefringence: cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)/water; N,N-dimethyl-N-ethyl-N-hexadecyl ammonium (C16C2DMABr)/water and N-butyl-N,N-dimethyl-N-hexadecyl ammonium bromide (C16C2DMABr)/water. The ternary systems CTAB/decanol/water and C16C2DMABr/decanol/water were investigated. In each system, two nematic phases were found, one consisting of rodlike micelles with positive Δξ and negative total birefringence and one consisting of disclike micelles with negative Δξ and positive total birefringence. A region of coexistence between the two nematic phases is reported for both systems. A systematic method of preparation of nematic phases in similar systems is proposed.

Early and effective integration of subsuppliers during the early phases of the product development process has become a strategic factor key to a manufacturer's competitiveness. It will therefore be important in the future to act upon subsuppliers' innovations in a significantly more timely manner than is practised today. The realization of this task will render the sphere of development crucially important. Not only the technical functionality of a future product is defined in the early phases of the product development process. Through specification of technical parameters a product's cost as well as indirect and direct costs associated with a product's production may be determined. The transformation of this strategy into reality requires the ability to work with incomplete information, which, when coupled with accurate mathematical and modelling methods, can contribute to making the goal of higher profits a reality. Through the example of a vehicle accessory, it was shown that with the help of probability based assessment techniques that are able to model the kind of incomplete input data often present in early planning stages, well founded decisions can be reached. Timely recognition of risks and of requirement to act as well as transparent and accountable decision making that takes customer wishes into account are the primary goals that will be pursued in order that economically robust products are created.

In contrast to many demonstrations of social loafing, relatively few studies have documented group motivation gains. One such exception was O. Köhler's (1926, 1927) finding that team members working together did better at a taxing persistence task than would be expected from their individual performances, particularly when there was a moderate discrepancy in coworkers' capabilities. In Experiment 1, we developed a paradigm within which Köhler's overall motivation gain effect could be replicated, although the discrepancy in coworkers' capabilities did not moderate these motivation gains (after statistical artifacts were taken into account). Experiment 2 indicated that this motivation gain occurred under conjunctive but not under additive task demands, suggesting that the instrumentality of one's contribution to valued outcomes is a more likely explanation of the Köhler effect than social comparison processes.

Arguments concerning the best procedure for occipito-cervical fusion have rarely been based upon occipital bone thickness or only based on in vitro studies. To close this gap and to offer an outlook on preoperative evaluation of the patient, 28 patients were analysed in vivo by means of spiral CT. Ten macerated human skulls were measured by means of CT and directly. Measurements were taken according to a matrix of 66 points following a grid with 1 cm spacing based upon McRae's line. Maximum thickness in the patient group was met 4 cm above the reference plane in the median slice (11.87 mm; SD 3.41 mm) and 5 cm above it in the skull group (15.85 mm; SD 1.81 mm). Correlation between CT and direct measurements was good (91.79%). Intra-individual discrepancies from one side to the respective point on the other side are common (difference > 1 mm in 60%). Judging areas suitable for operative fixation using the 10% percentile value (6.68 mm for the maximum value of 11.87 mm) led to the conclusion that screws should only be inserted along the occipital crest in an area extending from 1.5 cm above the posterior margin of the foramen magnum to the external occipital protuberance (EOP). At the level of the EOP screws may also be inserted up to 1 cm lateral of the midline. A reduction of screw length to 7 mm (9 mm for the EOP) is proposed. Preoperative evaluation of the patient should be carried out by spiral CT with 1 mm slicing and sagittal reconstructions.

Three different methods of anaesthesia (propofol or isoflurane with fentanyl/alfentanil, atracurium and O2/air or neurolept-anaesthesia with fentanyl, dehydrobenzperidol, pancuronium and N2O/O2) were compared in 64 patients undergoing cardiac surgery before the start of extracorporeal circulation. Plasma catecholamine contents were determined and haemodynamic changes were recorded for the detection and quantification of sympathoadrenal responses to the typical points of stimulation (intubation, skin incision, sternotomy). The level of anaesthesia was held comparable by EEG monitoring (spectral edge frequencies between 8 and 12 Hz). Noradrenaline and adrenaline showed significantly lower values in the propofol group in comparison to the groups with isoflurane and neuroleptanaesthesia. The clearest increases in catecholamines were found in all groups before starting the extracorporeal circulation. There is no evident congruity between catecholamine levels and haemodynamic changes because of various interindividual differences. Derived values of haemodynamic parameters (integrals of blood pressure, rate pressure product and triple index) are more useful than single measurements for the description of circulatory reactions.